The MAD architects designed the 385-meter tall Urban Forest skyscraper for Chongqing, China, which features gardens on each level created by horizontally shifting the floors. The skyscraper aims to bring nature back into the dense urban environment through its multidimensional design of sky gardens, floating patios, and minimal interior spaces lit by air, wind, and light.

1. URBAN FOREST, CHINA
Beijing architects MAD have designed a skyscraper for Chongqing, China, with gardens at each level.

2. By the end of 2009, MAD has completed the concept design of a 385 meter high metropolitan cultural complex
in the city center of Chongqing - The Urban Forest.
Rather than consider the project vertically, the architects
envisage a stack of floors, each slice shifted horizontally to
create spaces for gardens and patios.
The 385 metre-high building will be called
Urban Forest.

3. MAD proposes a new
architectural concept for the
course of Chinese urban
development - to actualize a
sustainable multidimensional
high-rise within China’s
youngest municipality, where
nature reincorporates into the
high-density urban environment
in the near future, to evoke the
affection for nature once lost in
the oriental ancient world and
bring to the modern city
dwellers.
This is the third skyscraper
designed by MAD following
the Absolute Towers in Toronto
and the Sinosteel International
Plaza in Tianjin, China.

4. As an important
pole of the
growing economy
in western China,
the city area of
Chongqing is
more than twice
of those of
Beijing, Shanghai
and Tianjin
combined.
In the year of
1997, Chongqing
became the fourth
direct
municipality in
China.

5. Such macro-scale urbanization should not only pushes economic growth and material prosperity, but also foster
the evolution of the city’s cultural essence. Chinese cities have gone through the process of once starting from
nothing, to following contemporary Western civilization urban pattern. Now, the overall economic
infrastructure has oriented the direction of future development towards inland China.

6. What lies in the future of cities? How should one grasp the concept of emerging high-density cities of China in
the context of a scenic town such as Chongqing? How does one discuss the future of architecture in Chinese
cities on the base of Eastern Naturalist perspective and in the new context of China’s unique economic, social
environment and globalization background? How to engage the city dwellers with an experience of nature when
its presence of steadily diminishes in the face of the ever intensifying concrete jungle.
Throughout the process of contemporary Western urbanization, skyscrapers were the symbol of technological
competitions, prime capitals and the formal enslavement of the powerful and the rich. Sustainable ecology
became more of a demand for comfort; while the yearning of a return to nature was left ignored. The Urban
Forest draws inspiration from the perspective of nature and the man-made in Eastern Philosophy, and ties the
urban city life with the natural outdoor experiences.

7. The shape of the architecture mimics mountain range, shifting in a dynamic and yet holistic rhythm, and
becomes a continuation of nature. Unlike its preceding counterparts, The Urban Forest no longer emphasizes on
vertical force, instead it concentrates on the multidimensional relationships within complex anthropomorphic
spaces: multilayer sky gardens, floating patios and minimal and yet well lit nesting spaces, the architectural
form dissolves into the fluid spatial movements between air, wind, and light. In this environment, people
encounter nature filled with unexpected surprises.
The fusion between Eastern humanism spirit and urban public spaces pioneers in the making of a sustainable
multidimensional city - The Urban Forest will not be a piece of mediocre urban machinery, but an artificial
organ that lives and breathes new life in the steel-and-concrete-filled city center.
Chongqing, the youngest municipality in China, holds great potential in its urban planning and construction and
has the capability to be built into a most livable city, a city of pleasant environments, a traffic-jam-free city,
even into a city that runs into a complete urban forest. A city with aspiration and vitality shall be courageous in
envisioning and designing its great future. - Bo Xilai (Mayor of Chongqing)

8. In October 2009, The Urban Forest from MAD debuted in the Heart-Made, Europalia exhibition at the 2009
Europalia China. It represents the most challenging dream of the contemporary Chinese architecture --- a type
of urban landmark that rises from the affection for nature. It is no longer a static icon but an organic form that
changes all the time with people’s perception.
Director in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun
Design Team: Yu Kui, Diego Perez, Zhao Wei,
Chie Fuyuki, Fu Changrui, Jtravis B Russett,
Dai Pu, Irmgard Reiter, Rasmus Palmqvist, Qin
Lichao, Xie Xinyu
Location: Chongqing, China
Typology: Commercial, Office, Hotel
Site Area: 7,700 sqm
Building Area: 216,000 sqm
Building Height: 385 m
Architectural Design: MAD Ltd
Structural Design: ARUP Group Ltd